Science

What is psilocybin?

A plain-English look at the molecule: what the science shows, and what it doesn’t.

Made by mushrooms

Psilocybin is a natural compound made by certain mushrooms. Health Canada names it, with psilocin, as the active ingredients of magic mushrooms.

A prodrug

In the body, an enzyme strips psilocybin’s phosphate tag. What is left is psilocin, the form that acts on serotonin receptors.

One key receptor

Psilocin switches on serotonin 2A (5-HT2A) receptors. In a 1998 study, a drug that blocks 5-HT2A blocked psilocybin’s psychological effects.

Not just one molecule

A mushroom holds many compounds. A survey of 226 mushrooms measured psilocybin and four relatives at “extremely variable” levels.

Isolated in 1958

The Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann and colleagues reported psilocybin from the Mexican mushroom Psilocybe mexicana in March 1958.

Still unproven

Trials are studying psilocybin, mostly for depression, and results are early and mixed. No psilocybin product is approved in Canada, where it is a controlled substance.

The full guide

Every fact, sourced

Our guide links each point to the studies and to Health Canada, and says what is still unknown.

Educational only. Pictures are Shroomverse AI illustrations and film stills.